A life in brown
by marcusr
Summary: In a war spanning many planets, and the expanse of space between them, there will be fleets, ensuring movement of men and supplies, or disrupting them. This series will follow a young man from the first shots, to the final armistice. Set during the war.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: While the characters (at this stage at least) are my own, the 'verse, all planets and ships are property of Joss Whedon.

COME ABOARD SIR

It was a cold day, the coldest on record in fact, as the young Ensign Forest pulled his greatcoat tightly around his thin frame and made the short walk from his barracks to the doors of the shuttle craft. He had signed up just two days earlier to join a fledgling fleet; anyone who had paid any notice to current events knew something was brewing. Relations between the newly formed councils of the boarder and the central beurocracy of the allied government were rapidly deteriorating, representatives from border worlds were meeting in secret and were drafting a declaration of independent rule which may soon be presented to the Allied Government and as a result many were preparing for war. Battalions of men were being trained in secret on the vast open plains of newly terra-formed worlds, and above the more loyal planets a fleet of ships was being constructed, either fitting existing commercials with weapons, or building newer ships in secret.

Eager to serve the rapidly forming independent movement, Forest had joined as soon as he was able, and now two days after his 17th birthday he prepared to board his first ship, the ISS Jackson, a newly commissioned warship. He shivered as he made his way up to the small shuttle craft. His mind reassured itself it was just the cold, but deep down he was nervous; all his life he'd been planet side except one brief orbit around his home world, and now he was about to jet off into the black as a fighting officer aboard an Independent warship. Looking back he could hardly believe it, his father was now a respected doctor on Ariel, one of the central planets, and here he was dressed in the dark brown uniform of the new Independent fleet.

He hated breaking atmo and the sudden rush of speed as he hit the escape speeds, leaving the upper layers of gas around the planet. With his eyes tightly closed he waited for the shaking to stop. Once he opened them he could see through the front window of the small craft the huge expanse of the black and he couldn't help but be struck by what he saw. Looking forwards he could see, looming before him, the huge bullet shaped ship which was to be his new home. "What do you make of her?" The young ensign to his left, who had boarded the shuttle with him, asked eagerly.

"Seventy two heavy guns and two fighter squadrons; she's certainly a fighting ship" he replied citing the stats he'd read once he'd heard of his commission, "Ensign Forest" he smiled, offering his hand to the officer.

"Ensign Sawyer" his companion replied, firmly shaking Forest's hand. The small shuttle pressed onwards towards the mighty vessel, entering the massive landing bay, which slowly began to retract into the bowls of the ship. A welcoming voice echoed over the tannoy announcing that pressure was normal, and the doors of the shuttle opened and the three young officers within stepped out into the vast hanger. In front of them a broad shouldered, older officer stood ready to greet them.

"Come aboard sir?" Forest stuttered nervously touching the brim of his hat and hoping to make a good impression. His companions followed his lead, all handing their commission papers to the officer of the watch.

"Granted, I'm Second Lieutenant Blake, welcome to Jackson. Ensign Simpson will show you to your bunks"

"Aye-aye sir" the young men responded almost in unison.

They followed Ensign Simpson down the endless maze of corridors and stairs within the huge ship. Forest could hardly believe the sheer size of the vessel in which he stood, with approximately 1000 hands aboard, the Jackson was certainly one of the largest ships in the fleet. While Forest thought that they were heading aft, he had become somewhat disorientated by the seemingly endless number of turns and bends they had taken in their journey from the port landing bay and wouldn't be able to say for sure where-abouts they were in the bowels of the vessel.

Finally Simpson stopped, pointing to an open door, "Welcome home," he huskily said, pointing into the small room. Tentatively Forest stepped through the doorway. The ensign's berth was small; a table which occupied the centre could hardly seat the 9 men who were to sleep in the tiny bunks around the walls of the berth. The atmosphere was thick with tobacco smoke and at the end of the room an older looking man sat with a pipe puffing clouds of thick smoke into the air. Forest walked over and sat on an unoccupied chair, the other two new comers followed his lead sitting at the small table. "Going to introduce us to the new meat Simpson?" the older ensign sarcastically smiled, pointing the end of his pipe at the three newcomers.

"This is Ensign Sawyer, Ensign Richards and I'm Ensign Forest" he spoke before Simpson had a chance, gesturing towards his new comrades, "and you would be?"

"Was I talking to you ensign?" He snapped, "I'm Ensign Meade"

Forest reeled a little from the unexpected outburst but as Meade went back to his pipe and book, he brushed it off and smiled turning to Sawyer.

"So where are you from?" he asked, eager to acquaint himself with the other new ensign. "I was born on Hera" he smiled "how about you?"

"Dyton colony," Forest replied

"I thought there was a bit of an accent there" Sawyer joked "You play cards?" Forest smiled, for many years he'd been an avid bridge player, his father had taught him the intricacies of the game, and he'd played competitively many times.

"I play a bit," he replied, finding it advantageous to keep his trump cards hidden. Sawyer smiled, taking a deck of cards from his pocket and began shuffling them on the table. Once he was satisfied he offered them to Kretshcmer, who smiled back taking the deck and dealing it into four neat piles. The older Ensign Simpson and the other newcomer sat with them, each taking one of the piles. Forest looked carefully at his hand, it wasn't the best he'd ever seen, but it was far from the worst. He looked across at his partner, Sawyer, waiting for Simpson at his left to make an opening bid. Before he could however a loud whistle came over the speakers, echoing throughout the ship. Simpson immediately rose, putting his cards face down on the table.

"Come on gentlemen" he said to them

"What's going on?" Forest asked as he joined rising from his seat.

"Captain's coming aboard"

The crew were assembled in the hanger as the single shuttle came in to land in the bay. Once it had touched down the bay retracted, the hanger deck shaking as the massive mechanism pulled in the landing platform. As soon as it had clicked into position the door of the shuttle opened, the officers and men on the deck stood to attention as the captain came into view. Captain James Whitehead was an older gentleman, who'd served the Alliance fleet as a commander before the tensions began to rise. He'd been quick to accept the commission of captain in the newly forming independent fleet. Slowly he walked towards the assembled officers, looking closely at each of his lieutenants stood in order of seniority. "Welcome aboard sir" Lieutenant Blake touched his hat to the captain; as officer of the watch it was his duty to welcome Whitehead back to his command.

"May I present Ensigns Sawyer, Richards and Forest sir" he indicated the three new faces to the captain.

"Pleasure to meet you" Whitehead said finally, after examining the young officers. "Back to your stations" he added, indicating the end of an age old welcoming ceremony. "Please, follow me" the captain spoke directly to Forest as the officers began dismissing their units, summoning the new recruit off to the side.

The captain's room was at least twice the size of the ensign's berth, and was normally occupied by only one man. Despite its size it was modestly decorated, a shelf of books occupied the centre of the far wall, and in the centre of the room was a desk and chair. Whitehead lowered himself into the chair while Forest stood nervously. "I knew your father, he was a good man. It puzzles me somewhat, what the son of an alliance surgeon sees in the life of a Browncoat military officer, but that's not mine to judge. There's a war coming, and we need all the men we can find. I do however need to know that your loyalty lies only with the independence, that you are committed to our cause."

"I am sir, I want nothing more than to serve for the independent cause."

The older man gave him a rare smile, "that's precisely what I wanted to hear. Incidentally, how does your father view your decision to sign up."

"I believe he sees what the Alliance has become sir. I hope he will be proud."

"I'm sure you will make him so. Obey orders and do your duty, and pray we make it through the coming months and years alive and perhaps we shall see good things of you, Ensign Forest."

"Yes sir, I will sir" he replied quickly

"Good, you are dismissed Mr Forest" the captain smiled, offering a half hearted salute. Forest obediently stood to attention, his steel heals clicking together just has his hand reached his forehead in a flat salute, his whole body straight as an arrow. He turned a perfect ninety degree angle and took his leave from his captain.

WAR

Two days after coming aboard ISS Jackson, ensign Forest was becoming more and more familiar with his role on the ship, at the bottom of the ladder of officers, and above the hands and NCO's from whom he was to learn the complexities of space flight. Still in orbit around Newhall , the crew had been running drills in preparation for the war everyone was predicting. Today there was to be more gun drills, Jackson was primarily a carrier ship, deploying short range fighters and skiffs to patrol the black, but it was more than likely that her own guns would have to be brought to bear at some point, so her crews had to be ready.

"RUN OUT!" Forest yelled. The hands prepared the guns for firing, pushing them forwards into the airlock holes.

"SEAL ESTABLISHED SIR" the gunner announced as the barrels clicked into place. "STAND CLEAR!" Forest shouted, "FIRE!" the pins clicked, had the guns been loaded the twenty high explosive shells would have just left the ship, and hurtled through the black and hopefully made contact with a target. "Very good gentlemen" Forest congratulated his team, he was coming to understand that the 3 second improvement could mean everything in a battle situation, not to mention the 40 platinum Ensign Sawyer now owed him for bettering his gun team. "You're all dismissed" he smiled, happy that his watch was finally over.

He wearily trudged the now familiar trek from the gun decks back up to the Ensign's berth where it was his intention to further acquaint himself with his bunk. As he entered the small room he was greeted by Sawyer who was grinning as he ran to meet his comrade.

"The Alliance rejected our declaration" he said quickly, "not just that, but they stormed our fortress on Shadow. It means war Paul, we're at war". A smile came to Forest's face as he heard the news steadying himself on the frame of the door.

"This is so da bianhua!" he shouted. The tension of the slipping peace had become almost unbearable, but it had all changed now. He was finally going to be able to put his training to use. Shaking his ecstatic friend's hand he was suddenly rejuvenated and the last thing he wanted to do was sleep.


	2. Opening shots

OPENING SHOTS

Forest lay in his bunk, as the tannoy began sounded the eight bells, ending the day's dogs watch. The war was 3 days old, and so far neither side had done too much fighting. Jackson remained in orbit as the brass argued and mused over what their tactics and goals should be. A movement united only by their dislike of central control was finding it hard to agree on much else, while the alliance, who's aims were clear had started the war believing the boarder worlds couldn't possibly field an army, and so were knocked off guard by the sudden emergence of battalion order units in the boarder. Outnumbered and outgunned the federal garrisons on the outer planets and moons had quickly capitulated, leaving the alliance brass completely confounded.

As the last bells died away Forest began to rise from his bunk, he was required on bridge for the start of the first watch. He rubbed his tired eyes, as he pulled on his uniform and walked through the ship to the bridge where he would receive this watch's assignments.

The bridge was a hive of activity, the captain stood in the centre his hands clasped behind his back. Forest approached him and touched his hat, "reporting for duty sir," he said, watching the previous watch ensigns leaving the bridge, either towards the rec-rooms, or down to their bunks. As he'd assumed his watch was once again on the gun deck, his team had quickly asserted themselves as the best aboard the Jackson in reload and firing times, and while they had yet to fire a live shot, the ship seemed more at ease when they were on duty.

Once in the familiar gun deck there was very little to do but wait, drills had been cancelled for the time being so the guns would all be in a position of readiness in the event they were required. Suddenly a loud klaxon sounded throughout the ship, Forest had never heard this before, but he'd been told what it mean. The captain had ordered all hands to stations. The surrounding decks were a flurry of activity as gun teams assembled at their stations, preparing to meet any threat. It was followed by a whistle, signalling that the decks be cleared for action. This meant that action was likely so anything unnecessary be stowed so damage control teams, and replacement hands could move to parts of the ship they were needed. Forest peered out of the small window into the black, and that was all he could see, he wished he knew where, and what the threat was. The huge ship began to move, he could feel the sudden inertia as it shifted a hard turn to the port side, and beginning to edge slowly forwards, creeping into the dark. "LOAD GUNS AND RUN OUT!" the deck leftenant shouted, the deck burst into activity, the high explosive shells were carefully slide into the barrels of the guns, the firing mechanism primed and finally the guns pulled forwards into the airlock, clicking firmly into place.

"GUNS READY" Forest shouted, all over the deck he could hear other guns clicking into position and his fellow ensigns announcing their crews were ready for firing, he smiled a private smile, knowing he'd been ready first. Frantically staring out of the window he tried to find their target, then he saw it, at first he dismissed as stars, but as the ordered block of lights moved slowly forwards he realised it was a ship.

"15 POINTS OFF THE PORT SIDE!' the leftenant finally shouted, confirming what Forest had thought, and providing the other ensigns with the intended target. Running along his division he sighted down the barrel of each gun, trying to find the target through the tiny, reinforced glass window above each barrel, adjusting the declination and angle each gun to bring it to what was hopefully the correct position. "GUNS SIGHTED AND READY" he announced loudly. Again, his was the first station on deck to announce his readiness for action, but the remaining teams were quick to report in.

"ALL GUNS FIRE!" leftenant Blake shouted.

"CLEAR!" Forest yelled to his team, they stepped away from the gun as the ensign pulled the firing cord, the firing pin clicked and the gun erupted with a loud crash, as the barrel flew backwards into the gun room from the heavy recoil. With no time to spare he ran to the next gun, repeating his action, and as he moved from gun to gun his crew followed, reloading and pushing each gun back into its airlock, prepared again to fire. As he reached the end of his station the room was filled with the thick smoke of the propellant. Looking through the window he couldn't make out the small shells against the black of space, but he watched the ship, waiting for the impacts. He saw flashes of light all along the target ship; his heart skipped a beat, smiling as he watched the small explosions on the ship. But as he looked down at his watch his heart sank, his shells shouldn't impact for another 15 seconds, given the estimated range to target. Suddenly, it dawned on him _they were firing back_.

His eyes scoured the black, somewhere out there a whole broadside shot was hurtling towards his ship. Not long after he saw what he'd hoped, his own shells making contact. A series of huge explosions raked the side of the enemy ship. He couldn't know it from this distance but the ship had been ripped apart, a small alliance corvette was tiny compared to the Jackson, and his shells had ripped a series of holes from bow to stern, the tiny ship began to break up under the massive power of the detonations. But his glory was short lived. Although small, its shots could to a huge amount of damage, and they were still out there somewhere. He didn't have to wait long. A sudden, horrific crash reported the impact of the first shell, the whole ship shook with the power of detonation, through his window he could see the debris thrown into space by the hull breech, seconds later a second crash reported another hit. He couldn't see any evidence of the impact, but he knew it had done some damage.

The tannoy sounded the stand down order, the danger of further attacks had passed. Throughout the ship damage control teams were rushing to the impact zones. Forest and his team remained on the gun deck while the other teams were dismissed by the leftenant of the watch. Forest was still on watch, and would be till 8 bells. The rest of the watch ticked by slowly, the bells gradually sounding every half hour while his team cleaned and oiled their guns after action. Forest was curious, curious to know the extent of the damage to his own ship, but at the same time was beginning to feel a twang of guilt, shells he personally had fired had, most likely, ripped an alliance corvette apart, a crew of several hundred had been killed by his actions. "us of them" he told himself, those words cycling through his brain, the well rehearsed justification of soldiers since the dawn of warfare. Finally, after what seemed to be an eternity the eight bells rang out throughout the ship. Forest dismissed his division, who quickly left the deck. He lingered for a moment, ensuring everything was locked down as it should be, when he was satisfied his work was complete he began the long walk back up to his berth.

No sooner had he entered the room, than a voice over the tannoy announced "pass the word for ensign Forest, Ensign Forest to the captain's quaters please". Wearily he closed his eyes and turned, walking up to the captain's cabin. He knocked on the door and was welcomed by Captain Whitehead. The captain looked stressed, since the attack he'd been busy directing engineers to try and limit the damage of the impacts. "Mr Forest, your deck leftenant told me some very interesting things about you during the action. You behaved in an exemplary manner for a man under fire for the first time" the captain offered his hand to Forest, who quickly took it, firmly shaking Whitehead's hand. He looked past the captain to the small mirror on the far wall, his face was covered in brown soot from the thick propellant smoke which had filled the tiny gun room. "Two impacts down the port side caused huge depressurizations, before we could control it three decks had blown out, its going to take several months to repair." Whitehead said, shaking his head with regret. "I've recommended you for transfer, you've learned incredibly quickly in your short time here, and proved your ability under fire today"

"With respect sir, you accepted my commission; I would be honoured to remain on Jackson"

"While that means a lot to me, your skills and youth could be put to better use on a frigate than a ship of this class. You'll have more chance of action, and promotion aboard a frigate, especially while we lay in for repairs" The captain handed him new commission papers, "you've been accepted to the frigate ISS Ewell, congratulations and good luck" Whitehead smiled, looking across at the young ensign. "Dismissed ensign, your shuttle leaves in two hours"


	3. Transfered

TRANSFERRED

Captain Pettigrew was a natural frigate commander. He was quick witted and sharp, and while this worked to put his crew at ease around him, it also made him a relentless frigate captain. His ship, the ISS Ewell was less that half the size of the Jackson, and had a much smaller armament. It was new, quickly laid down and constructed in the immediate aftermath of the declaration of war, and therefore was built with only war in mind, unlike the Jackson, who's true colours had had to be concealed beneath the mask of a large commercial freighter.

Forest lay in his bunk, he'd been on duty for the forenoon watch, and now was preparing to rest, the ship wouldn't need him again till the second dogs watch, so he had a full six and a half hours to rest. He couldn't though; occupying the ensign's berth with him was ensign Claire Peters. A few years his senior the young redhead had, like him joined as a few days before war broke out, but until Ewell had been complete had served as secretary to Admiral Hood at fleet command. She'd read reports of her fellow ensign's conduct under fire, and, like most was eager to know more. The brief exchange of fire between Jackson and the Alliance corvette had been, so far, the only shots fired by either fleet in the war. "It was only a small ship" he finally said, turning to face her, for the 18th time since he'd arrived she wanted to know more of the engagement, "it wasn't really that interesting, a small alliance scouting corvette, it didn't really stand too much chance against a battleship."

"But you must have been nervous, I mean, your first combat" she eagerly asked

"Well yes, but you don't have time to think about it, I had to do my duty" he replied, dryly, rolling over onto his back.

"And when the shots hit? You must have been really scared; I know I would have been"

"again you don't really think about it too much, I mean, if I could hear them, they hadn't hit me." He was being polite in truth he'd been terrified, deep inside. But he couldn't tell her. She'd know action soon enough and he didn't want to make her scared before it came. Sensing a strained tone in his voice she decided to give up asking for now, and an eerie silence descended over the berth, allowing him to rest himself.

The second dogs watch came all too soon, waking at 3 bells he had half an hour to prepare for his watch, pulling on his uniform he quickly drank a cup of the lukewarm coffee in the pot before leaving for the bridge.

"Reporting for duty sir" he said promptly, touching his hat to the captain. The bridge was quiet, the excitement of the start of the war had worn off, and the fleet was now down to 'business as usual'. Forest sat at the comms station he'd been assigned too, receiving reports and sending the captain's orders to different parts of the ship. "Prepare to get us underway" the captain finally spoke, once the new watch was settled in.

The lieutenant, stood at his left turned to the bridge crew, "Helm, 3 points to starboard, engines make speed 1 third forwards" he ordered as Forest relayed the new orders to the engineers. The change in engine tone was subtle but noticeable. The crew had grown used to the steady hum of the engine ticking over, but now, as she came to life the low growl became deeper. The inertia of the ship's movement was reduced by the new grav dampeners, and was hardly noticed, but the change in the ships voice told the crew she was under way.

"Captain I'm picking up a distress signal about 14 clicks ahead; it's an automated beacon sir." Ensign Peters turned to the captain.

"Identify?" he replied

"Friendly, its an escape pod from one of our ships"

"Deploy the ships and bring it into the bay, any sign of debris or a ship?"

"Non sir, but its thrusters are burnt out, its probably been out there for a day or more"

The tiny ship was pulled into the starboard landing bay by two of Ewell's scout ships. A black, egg-shaped craft scarcely big enough to house 3 men she'd been drifting in the black for several days. "Medical crew stand by" the captain ordered, the officers of the watch stood in the bay, preparing to open the pod. The door of the pod opened, and as it touched the metal floor of the hanger bay one of the occupants tentatively stepped out. Forest recognised the dirty, burnt face of the young man as he stepped down the stairs on to the deck. "Permission to come aboard?" he said croakily, attempting to salute, but wincing as he tried to raise his arm. The captain nodded and saluted back, gesturing to the medics to attend to him.

Two hours later, and looking much cleaner he stood in the captain's office. Captain Pettigrew, the lieutenant of the watch and Ensign Forest sat facing him. "Ensign Sawyer of the Jackson I believe" the captain finally said, looking at the wounded man before him, his head marked by a series of stitches and his right arm awkwardly strung in a sling. "Yes sir" he replied promptly.

"Please report, where is Jackson?" The captain asked "No distress calls, or signals have been received and you're not that far out of range"

"No sir, we'd been ordered to patrol the boarder, make s…sure no alliance cruisers attempted to sneak across" he stuttered, Forest shook his head, the dishevelled, broken man who stood before him was hardly recognisable as the eager, trigger happy ensign he'd left on the Jackson. "well we went, about 4 hours after arriving a cruiser approached, we didn't know where it came from, radiation from the nebula obscured our sensors, and it just came out of nowhere. We tried to fire back but it kept moving, we couldn't see it. It fired again, and again and again."

"Didn't you fire a distress call? A beacon?" the captain asked, cutting the ensign off.

"N..no sir, we didn't get chance, during the first volley the captain went down, I was stood with him, on the bridge. A shell hit, blew a relay board on the bridge, he was hold of the control panel at the time."

"Your captain killed, what of the first lieutenant? Surely he should have fired the distress beacons"

"Yes sir, he should have sir, but he'd been on the fire deck, on the port side, that got hit too" a tear ran down his face, recalling the attack, "70 men just vented into space, another few shots and the engines started to go, we'd got reports of hull breaches on most levels, fires throughout the ship, she was breaking up"

"Who ordered gave the abandon orders?"

"The third lieutenant sir. It was chaos in there, we all ran to the escape pods, all of us who could that is, we left so many wounded and dying behind. I was lucky, found a pod and launched, managed to get far enough away before the ship blew, a lot of pods, we could see them, caught in the blast." He was crying now, stood before the officers of the Ewell recalling the downfall of the mighty Jackson.


	4. Into the breach

INTO THE BREACH

INTO THE BREACH

"Gentlemen, we have a major problem" the captain spoke, his voice flat and to the point, "An enemy frigate is sheltering here right on our boarders, she's using the radiation from the nebula as cover for her sorties, and the batteries on the planet's surface mean we can't get close enough to fire a shot at her."

"Aye sir, and if we leave her, we either risk losing more ships, or leave a back door open to the alliance." Lieutenant Bowles

"Indeed not." The captain replied, letting the weight of the burden settle before he proceeded.

"If I may make a suggestion sir" Bowles stood, as the captain nodded to him, conceding the floor. "Taking the ship is nearly impossible with the battery there, that's why they hide there, even if we manage to take her, the batteries will blow us apart before we can break orbit" there was a mummer of agreement on the lips of the officers present, and heads nodded to confirm. "So we take the battery too" At that statement the room went silent, it was a simple idea, but the fighting involved nearly impossible, at least, that was the notion running through the heads of those sat at the table. "I know it sounds audacious, and that's why it'll work, it's the last thing they'll expect, we have the advantage of surprise."

He inhaled, he'd announced his overall intentions, justified them, now he was preparing to go deeper into detail. "We land a strike-force here, on the other side of the planet, if the nebula shields them from us; it stands to reason they'll find it hard to notice a small transport. Two miles south of the battery is heavy woodland, we'll land in a clearing there, we can use the woods to cover the approach." His hand traced over the dense forest on the map, following a river to a small clearing, where he planned to put down the ship. "We attack by night, we should be able to get up to the wall without being detected, plant explosives, blow the door, and be on the men inside before they know what's going on. With the battery in our hands, you can launch a second strike against the frigate, take her too." The room fell silent, the officers digesting what they'd just heard.

"We'll take into consideration" The captain smiled, clearly impressed. "Does anyone else have any suggestions?" the room sat silent, no one could compete with what they'd just heard. "Very well gentlemen, you're dismissed. I'll get back to you when I've made my choice"

For the next few hours the ship was tense, the officers on deck hardly spoke except when necessary for ship functions. Hold a near straight course hardly required many orders given. Finally, John Echols, the captain's steward emerged from Pettigrew's cabin, "Gentlemen, the captain's compliments, he requires your presence in five minutes".

Five minutes later, the officers stood facing the captain, again standing over a large map of the planet battery. "Your plan is a good one Mr. Bowles, I'll have no hesitation in going through with it." Despite the weight of the task before them, the cabin breathed a sigh of relief, they all knew it had to be done, no matter how dangerous. "Tonight, Mr Bowles, you will lead a taskforce composed of 30 ship's marines, Ensign Peters, Ensign Forest and Ensign Sawyer. Lieutenant Johnson, you will take a further 20 marines, Ensign French and 40 ships hands to take the frigate once the battery has been captured or destroyed."

The ship was silent, the crew had been briefed on the plan, they were ready, but nervous, as Ewell drifted forwards into the black. "We're coming up on the launch position sir" Lieutenant Bowles turned from the console to face the captain.

"Very good Mr Bowles, have the men board the ships" He replied

"Aye-aye sir" He replied, saluting, he left the bridge heading to the launch bay. The small transport ships began to fill with marines and officers.

One by one the fleet of small ships left the launch bays. Ewell would wait 20 clicks beyond the range of the planetary batteries for 4 hours, at which point she would move forwards and launch the crews to take the alliance ship. "Don't worry" Forest look across at Ensign Peters, she sat nervously, looking forwards blankly. The ships shook at they hit the outer atmosphere, the undersides glowing red from the heat as the ships descended through the air towards the landing point. Gently the ships touched down exactly where it was intended.

The door opened and the marines quickly stepped out, weapons presented they ensured the surroundings were clear. The officers stepped down, their pistols and swords sheathed. Looking around Forest breathed the fresh, crisp air. He hadn't set foot on a planet since the war started several weeks ago, and firm earth and fresh air felt good to him, a welcome change to a steel deck, and re-cycled air. But they had a job to do, they couldn't stand and enjoy the sight of the sun setting over tips of the mountains in the far distance. As darkness fell the group moved slowly and silently through the dense woodland, there were so many things that could go wrong, an accidental noise, anything that would let the alliance know of their presence before it was time to commence the attack.

After what seemed to be hours of marching, the big grey bunkers of the battery complex loomed before them. The external security was remarkably light, the alliance was complacent enough to believe the independent's wouldn't attempt an attack of this magnitude, not with the ship in orbit as well. "Bring up the explosives, quietly" Bowles whispered back to the marine sapper, who came forwards, spreading the plastic explosive over the weak points on the main door to the compound, just enough to blow off the door. Pressing the long fuse into the block of plastics they slowly reeled off the quick fuse wire, walking backwards into a ditch.

Suddenly the silence of the night was broken, a dull thud echoed throughout the forest as the charges went off. "Ewells charge!" Bowles shouted, the explosion had hardly settled as the men ran out of the ditch through the door. As they crossed the threshold, flashes of gunfire erupted from inside, the first line of men fell, either dead or seeking cover, behind them the marines returned fire, shooting forwards into the dark building. They had to stay mobile, if they got bogged down here, Ewell would be in huge danger from the battery itself when she approached. "GRENADE" came the cry from a marine as a small metal shell landed a few inches ahead of the attackers, they turned to move back but it was too late, a second explosion shook the night.

When the dust settled, the alliance fire had stopped, but in the doorway 3 marines, and Lieutenant Bowles lay dead or dying. "Marines, present" Forest yelled, the marines lowered their guns, pointing forwards into the fort, "Covering fire" he shouted again. The guns opened up, firing up at the alliance positions. Forest ran forwards, into the doorway, to Bowles, who lay, blood dripping from a gash in his forehead. "Leave me, theres not enough time, take the battery." He croaked.

"Ewells to me" Forest yelled over the gunfire, the marines and crewmen pushing forwards to his position. Drawing his sword and pistol he moved forwards, leading the men onwards into the fort. The alliance defenders who initially halted their progress had either been killed, or fallen back. The crew of Ewell pushed onwards, into the open courtyard at the centre. As they entered a volley of shots hit them from behind a barricade in the middle of the courtyard. "TAKE COVER" Forest yelled over the gunfire, knowing that a charge would be suicidal. The marines hid behind whatever they could find, firing sporadic bursts into the defenders. From all around them now, guards on the walls were firing down. "We're pinned down sir, there's no way we can move from here" A young marine confirmed the situation.

"ENSIGN PETERS" He yelled, trying to find the other officer in the chaos.

"She's not here Paul, I don't know where she is" Sawyer replied from the other side of the marines.

"Gorramit, she should be in charge"

"Guess you got promoted" Sawyer laughed

"Marine, come with me" Forest tapped the shoulder of a young marine and pointed to follow him, "And bring the rest of the plastics." Turning to his old friend he yelled again "Take over here Sawyer, I'm going to see if I can find another way"

Forest and the marine fell back, moving away from the courtyard and back into the corridors of the base. "There has to be a way up to the walkways of the wall." Forest mused, running quickly through the base. "Quickly, through here" he smiled, a thin staircase beckoned. The stairs ended in a long, thin room, in the centre was a line of huge guns, pointing towards the black of the nights sky. "This must be the gun room" Forest said, in awe at the huge guns before him. On either side of the room, there were a series of smaller anti vehicle and anti personnel guns, pointing outwards towards the planet's surface. "Quickly, help me with this" He gestured to the marine; they both struggled against the weight of one of the smaller guns, angling it downwards until it could be brought to bear on the fort itself.

"Okay, now pass me a cartridge" Forest ordered the marine, pointing at the stack of shells in the centre of the room, "Its not what I had in mind, but lets see if this don't help" He grinned as he slid the shell into the gun. "Stand back" he smiled again, the gun primed and ready. He pulled the fire cord. The pin fell with a click on the shell casing and suddenly the gun erupted, jumping back along its rails. Forest ran to the hole, getting there just as the shell hit, a few yards behind the barricades, but it did what it was intended too. The explosion rocked the fort. The alliance defenders behind the barricades were either dead or lying stunned by the blast. He could see Sawyer leading the men forwards into the centre, towards the former barricade.

"Lets go" Forest shouted to the marine, running down into the centre again.

"You must surrender" Sawyer demanded, his sword pressed against the stunned senior officer. With obvious hesitation the officer obediently bowed and turned his weapon over to the attackers. With that gesture, the fort was theirs. They were given little time to celebrate their victory, right on time Ewell entered a deep orbit with the planet, approaching the frigate. "Paul, what do you make of this?" Ensign Sawyer said, his a tone of worry to his voice, he offered his telescope to Forest.

"Damnit" he turned away. "Mr Prowse you'll come with me please, and bring a few marines" He walked quickly into the fortress. The stout ships hand gestured to the nearest marines, who followed Forest back into the gun room.

"There are three corvettes moving in on Ewell. We're going to have to take them down." He gestured at the huge guns. "But we don't know how to use that" Prowse protested.

"Well have to learn, quickly. With most of her marine guard, and gun crews down here Ewell doesn't stand a chance, especially if they board her. Besides it can't be that hard" he swallowed nervously.

"Theres no shells in here big enough" the gunner announced, having taken stock of the ammunition in the gun chamber. "They must keep them somewhere else"

"Quite right" Forest agreed. "Send the marines to search the fort, and could someone find Ensign Peters please"

"Sir, we've got the shells, through here" A marine ran up smiling. Leading the officers into a re-enforced ordinance room.

"Very good, get them to Mr Prowse." Forest ordered as the marines began carefully lifting the huge shells onto the trucks.

"I think we've got it figured sir" Mr Prowse lifted his head from the open chamber, his face covered in soot and gun oil.

"Very good Mr Prowse, load and prepare to fire" Forest smiled as the first of the shells arrived

"Course if I'm wrong it could blow us all up" Prowse added his usual macabre observation.

"It's a risk we'll have to take" Forest smiled back, sarcastically as the shell was slowly and carefully slid into the chamber. "Hurry up gorramit" Forest yelled, staring through his glass into the sky, watching as the corvettes surrounded Ewell, he could see their guns firing, and knew it wouldn't be long before they realised she wasn't at full strength.

"GUN READY" Prowse yelled as the chamber closed and his men primed the firing pins.

Forest closed his eyes, "FIRE" he yelled as loud as he could, his voice croaking. Prowse pressed the fire control panel. A deafening roar announced the firing of the gun. The shell soared forwards out of the barrel through the upper atmosphere, the huge force of the batteries enough to propel it out of the planet's atmosphere.

"Sir, batteries are opening fire" the ensign of the watch on Ewell's bridge looked up from his console, fires were erupting throughout the ship from the repeated attacks by the corvettes, his facial expression told of the "last straw". Captain Pettigrew closed his eyes in resignation, the ship hadn't heard from the men on the surface, and noone on board believed they could operate a planetary battery, the guns firing, to Pettigrew told of defeat. The shell sailed onwards, suddenly making contact with the side of one of the attacking frigates. The force it possessed forced the shell through the outer casing of the hull, and into the ship before it finally detonated, ripping the warship apart from the inside out. "Sir, it hit the corvette sir, they're firing on the alliance ships, we've taken the fort!" the ensign laughed as he reported the first bit of good news.

"God help them." Pettigrew whispered under his breath as he watched the external screens, watching the corvette break up.

"Well shot Prowse" Forest congratulated his gunner, watching the corvette break up. Realising the situation the two remaining corvettes quickly began to change course and move away, as did the frigate. The crew of Ewell cheered loudly as the alliance ships scattered, fleeing from their own planetary battery. "Mr Prowse, please lay the charges and let's get out of here".

As the sun began to rise, casing an warm orange light across the mountains the crew of Ewell, under the command of ensign Forest arrived back at their transport ships, their uniforms and faces covered in blood and soot from the last nights actions. A sudden loud crash reported that the timed charges in the fort had gone off, destroying the battery. Huddled inside one of the ships was the tiny frame of Claire Peters, her face stained with tears, "I'm sorry" she offered meekly, "I couldn't do it, the fighting, the death, it was too much, I didn't want to die, I panicked, and I ran." Ensign Forest sat next to her, extending his arm around her he sat silently, trying to think of the right words to console her. "Lets get out of here" he finally said, directed more at the pilots and marines than at her. The crews quickly boarded their ships and began to take off, returning to the heavily damaged Ewell. In his arms, ensign Peters had stopped crying, "I'm sorry" she mewed again. Forest lent down and gently kissed the top of her head. She looked up and smiled, his face black with powder and mud, she ran her hand down his face, before leaning upwards, she gently placed her lips to his, closing her eyes she kissed him softly, feeling more reassured and safe in his embrace than she had since the war began.

Pettigrew eagerly shook his hand as he entered the captain's office. "Very impressive" he smiled, reading the hastily drawn up report. "You took the fort and managed to save my ship" the captain smiled more, looking at the young officer before him. "Unfortunate about Bowles, and now my ship needs a new lieutenant, can you think of anyone to fill that vacancy?" the captain shot a subtle look at the young ensign.

"Ensign Peters is the most sen.." the captain cut off Forest's reply

"As you were Acting Lieutenant Forest" the captain stood and shook his hand. "Besides, I've approved Peter's request to transfer back to the admiralty, I've no place for officers who panic under fire. I've arranged for Ensign Sawyer to move your possessions to the wardroom." Pettigrew said quickly

"Thank you sir, I don't know what to say"

"Don't say anything, just make sure you're ready for the Lieutenant's examination, we'll be putting into dock soon to repair the damage, you'd better not let me down" The captain said in a mock serious tone.

"Of course sir, I'll be ready" Forest smiled

"Dismissed, I assume you'll want to get to know your new bunk."


	5. Boarded

BOARDED

**BOARDED**

The ensigns berth was small, he hadn't quite appreciated how small until now. He stood at the door, just beyond the threshold in his mind he laughed at himself, a man who'd led a charge on a heavily defended fortress, and saved his ship was now terrified at the prospect of talking to her. He'd set it up, he'd had a hand in writing the duty rosters; he knew she wasn't on watch. He swallowed hard as he crossed the threshold into the cramped room.

She was sat on her bunk. Wearing the dark green shirt and green trousers common among officers off duty, her long red hair tied up and draped over her back. "Wondered when you'd come by" she smiled across at him and patted the bed next to her, gesturing to come sit down.

"I hear you've been transferred" he finally stuttered, sitting next to her.

"I just don't have what it takes to fight, I'm not like you" she explained

"What do you mean? You were in the attack with us" He said

"I ran away! I'm not ashamed to admit it, I can't take that kind of pressure, not exactly an admirable trait in a fighting officer. I'll be much more useful in the administration" she responded flatly.

"What about us?" he asked, doing his best not to sound desperate.

She smiled looking into his eyes, putting her arm around him she gently and softly kissed his cheek. "I like you" she quickly said, "but this isn't the time to start anything, there's a war on, and I've lost too many people I care too much about already" a tear rolled from her eye which she quickly wiped away.

"What do you mean?" he quickly responded, his throat dry.

"I got the news yesterday, my brother's been killed. He was with the 32nd rifles, they were ambushed on Beylix, and there were no survivors" she was crying as she completed her sentence. She leaned against his shoulder, and he held her close in a tight embrace, her soft red hair against his face as he gently kissed the top of her head. "Thankyou" she murmured.

They sat, him holding her for what seemed like an age, and once again she felt completely safe, even in the horrors of the war she felt like nothing could harm her. They were interrupted by a voice down the tannoy "Senior officers to the bridge please"

She leaned up and smiled "You'd better go"

"Duty calls" he smiled as he stood up and walked out of the ensign's berth.

The bridge was a hive of activity, the lieutenants were gathered around a console with the captain. "Reporting for duty sir" Forest announced his arrival, touching the brim of his hat.

"Thankyou acting-lieutenant" the captain acknowledged his arrival. "We may have a problem, we've detected an unusual heat bounce off our engine wake"

"Faulty detectors?" Forest mused

"Well that was our first guess, but the diagnostics came back clean" the captain replied.

"Could it be an enemy ship?" Forest inquired, "our sensors are useless in our wake, he could just have slipped in behind us"

"Damn small ship" the first lieutenant retorted, "if it is I don't think we need worry, a single broadside from our guns'd blow him into next week." The short, rotund man smirked at his own joke.

"Assuming his intention is to fight our batteries" Forest raised his voice to be heard over the first lieutenant.

"What are you suggesting?" The captain looked across at him, his thin face flat and expressionless as he chewed the arm of his glasses.

"If they could get close enough to us sir, they could try to board, if they got on board they would have a better chance of taking the ship, and even if they failed to take it, they could do a large amount of damage to some of the more sensitive equipment" Forest spoke quickly so noone had a chance to interrupt him.

The group went silent, it was always a possibility that a ship could be boarded, and many times the attack had the advantage, choosing when and where to hit the ship, all the defender could do was wait.

"That's impossible, we're too far away from alliance space, they wouldn't be so brash." The first lieutenant spoke again. He was the most senior officer on the ship apart from the captain, and his opinion counted for a lot when decisions were being made.

"Helm, full starboard, bow down 35 degrees" The captain turned to the helm controllers and shouted the orders. "Do a full sensor sweep of our tail" He turned back to the sensor operators.

The mighty ship began to turn and head down, the hope being that if there was an enemy contact following it would be caught on the sensors when if it left the Ewell's baffled zone, immediately behind the engines.

"NEW CONTACT!" the sensor operator shouted as a tiny blip appeared out of the wake of the ship.

"What do you have?" The captain eagerly responded.

"Not sure sir, it was only here for a second, then its report merged with ours" He replied, searching the sensor screens.

"Do we still have the heat bounce on our wake?" Forest quickly asked, staring at the sensors operator.

"No sir, its gone too" the young hand reported.

"Sir, they could have attached to us, you may have forced them out of the wake, but I think they've latched onto our hull" Forest spoke quickly. They may have taken the element of surprise from the attackers, but they were still a major problem, if they could get on board the ship they could cause massive amounts of damage, even take the ship.

"Sir, we're getting reports from the engine room of strange sounds, like someone's cutting through the bulkheads" the coms desk reported, confirming the captain's worst fear.

"Forest, take 15 marines down to the engine room, hold it at all costs." The captain ordered.

Forest ran from the bridge, his long browncoat billowing behind him. "MAKE A HOLE, COMING THROUGH" he shouted down the corridor as he ran to the marine's quarters.


	6. Repelled

Forest ran down the narrow corridor, his long brown coat billowing out behind him and his pistol drawn. As he neared the sealed door he held his hand up, signalling to them marines behind him to stop. Behind the door was the engine room, where the alliance craft had latched on, and which most likely contained a well armed alliance boarding party. He crept slowly and cautiously up to the door an tried very gently to open it, as he expected it had been locked shut from the inside. He motioned his marines to bring up the cutting torches, but he knew the blast strength doors would take along time to cut through. Sparks flew from the door as the white hot flame was brought into contact with the metal, and very slowly began to burn a square hole in the centre of the doors. Any other room on the ship and they could have cut the lock out, however as a precaution against chemical leak, the engine room doors sealed completely. It would take over an hour to out a hole in the door, one whole hour the alliance troops could play merry hell with the vital and delicate equipment in the engine room. Already the lights in the ship were beginning to flicker as the intruders began to test their levels of control. Forest was thankful that Ewell was a new ship, build by the Independents for the war, many other ships of the fleet were converted cargo haulers or civilian transports, if they were to be boarded in this way it would be likely that the alliance would have at least rudimentary knowledge of how to operate the ships engines, at least in Ewell they had to familiarise themselves with the equipment before they could do anything crippling.

Seconds seemed like hours to Forest as he watched the torch slowly make its way around the door. About half way through the cutting the ship was suddenly plunged into darkness. The narrow corridor outside the engine room was lit only by the cutting torch and the red hot metal immediately behind it, while elsewhere the only light came from the computer panels and consoles. A few seconds later the auxiliary lights were activated and the ship was bathed in an eerie red glow.

The heat and fumes from the torch, combined with the oppressively dim red light made working, or even standing in the tiny corridor hardly bearable, but Forest and his men knew how vital it was that they retake the engine room, the alliance troops had already begun to try to play with the operations of the ship, and there was no telling how many subsystems they were damaging in their attempts to operate the mighty warship.

After what seemed like an age the marine turned off his cutting torch, a tiny strip of metal held the door in place. He turned to Forest "We cut this section and we'll be in" he smiled.

"Stand ready with the flash bombs" Forest ordered the other marines. He knew when the door fell open the men inside would have a clear shot at him and his team, he believed that as soon as the metal hit the floor they would open fire into the space. By using flash bombs he could buy his team the valuable seconds they needed to enter the room and maybe find some cover. Once again they were at a disadvantage, they didn't know the number, or the location of the enemy troops, and also they had to be very careful what they shot at, any stay bullet could cause irreparable damage to a vital system, rendering the whole assault pointless.

"Do it" Forest nodded to the marine, "Then duck"

The broad shouldered man pulled the visor down over his eyes again and reignited his torch. In a matter of seconds he was finished, the metal sheet hovered in place briefly before falling inwards. The marine did as he'd been advised and quickly ducked out of the way.

The metal sheet hit the floor with a loud crash, no sooner had it touched the floor when a rain of bullets flew at the hole, the sounds of their impacts echoing around the narrow corridor. Forest nodded towards the doorway and two marines quickly pulled the pins on their flash bombs and threw them into the room, at the same time Forest pulled the pin on his own smoke canister and threw it aiming to land relatively close to the door. A loud, dull crash reported their detonation within the engine room, followed by the cries of the alliance soldiers who had been too slow to look away, their eyes rendered temporarily useless by the powerful flash of light. The smoke canister was somewhat quieter, but the thick fog beginning to drift out of the door told of its detonation.  
"GO!" Forest screamed, immediately him and his men charged into the hole.

Inside, the engine room was beginning to fill with thick smoke, but they could easily make out 6 Alliance soldiers crouched behind crates or computer consoles. Forest quickly found an old packing crate and moved in behind it. Looking over the top of his cover he had a clear shot at one of the alliance men. Without thinking he fired his pistol and watched as he saw the bullet enter the soldier's chest. Once sure his shot had found its target he quickly ducked back behind his cover. All around him his men were opening fire against the alliance soldiers, their slow, controlled bursts showed how much they'd understood the dangers associated with damaging or destroying vital systems.

Forest continued to move, the thick smoke beginning to dissipate as he left his cover, running to get behind a console, getting ever closer to the alliance men. His team was doing the same, hoping to box the boarding party in the corner and force their surrender.

Forest shot again, this time his gun aimed into the head of soldier, he watched as the thin metal helmet gave way to his shell, penetrating the attacker's skull, the man's body fell backwards behind a crate. Around him he could see his team advancing further, the alliance slowly pushing back towards the corner.

With their backs to the wall the alliance party ceased firing.

Forest stood, his pistol still pointing into the corner at his adversaries, there were four of them, standing against the rear wall of the engine room, he knew he was gambling everything on this not being a trick.

"Drop your weapons" he commanded.

To his relief the alliance soldiers quickly threw their rifles to the floor in front of them. His own marines quickly ran forwards and collected the dropped weapons, ensuring there was no chance of the alliance soldiers changing their minds.

"Take them to the brig" Forest commanded his marines. "And someone find the engineers, get this place running again"

"Good work." Captain Pettigrew rose to his feet to shake Forest by the hand. "You forced them out of hiding, and out of my ship."

"Thankyou sir." Forest smiled proudly.

"We're putting into dock in 2 days time, the admirals are meeting to examine prospective Lieutenants, I trust you'll be ready."  
"I'll do my best sir"


End file.
